You Are Beautiful
by murmelinchen
Summary: She is late to the office and then an unusual message is written on her cup from the coffee shop. Who is the messenger and what is he up to?


**I do not own Divergent or any of its characters, neither do I own any products you may recognize.**

Juggling her laptop bag from one arm to the other, she cursed under her breath as she realised that she had forgotten her purse at home. Now she had to search the pockets of her coat for money as the customer before her moved to fetch their drink. She smiled apologetically at the cashier who did their best not to roll her eyes at her and cheerfully greeted her, asking her what she would like to have.

"Wait, I need to see whether I have..." she mumbled rather to herself and sighed in relief when she finally found a bill in her other pocket, triumphantly pulling it out. Looking at it to make sure it would be enough, she laughed nervously, "Oh thank goodness! A Cinnamon Chai Latte and a Nata, please!"

She slammed down the bill in front of the not so enthusiastic woman behind the counter and waited patiently for her to type in her enormous wish list into the register. She shook her head to the question whether she would like to have anything else and watched her fetch the sweet mini cake from the storefront.

Drumming her fingers, she sighed in annoyance as her phone beeped in her pocket and she almost pulled it out to check when the cashier returned. Rolling her eyes, she pushed the bill towards her and nodded – she knew very well how much it was and just wanted to leave as soon as possible. She was late, the presentation she had to hold was due in less than an hour and she still needed to reply to two e-mails she had read on her way to the coffee shop.

Another beep from her private phone made her heart jump a little. She had waited for him to reply for three days straight since they had their huge fight on the weekend. She was still mad at him but she also wanted to make up with him just as bad.

Quickly shoving the change into her pocket, she moved to the side to wait for her tea-to-go. Juggling her laptop bag back to her other arm, she pulled out her phone and smiled as she saw that the message was from him. She missed him and the fight had really been stupid, she had texted him several times now. So, now she was giddy with anticipation to his answer, she had proposed to meet on the next weekend.

Yet, as she read through the words, her heart sank with every word. Not only did he deny the invitation but he also accused her of being selfish and self-absorbed; he would rather not meet her and it seemed to him that she was married to her job rather than wanting to have a serious relationship with him.

She felt tears brimming up in her eyes as she read over the message again and startled as a deep voice called out her order. Looking up, she automatically smiled and grabbed her cup of tea, thanking the person behind the counter. Carelessly calling good-bye, she stormed out of the shop.

Outside she breathed in the fresh air and huffed in an attempt to suppress the tears that kept threatening to break out once more. This was the last thing she needed now – her make up being smeared before her big presentation in front of all of her department. She breathed out slowly to regain her composure and hurried to her office.

"Hey, you got the report ready for this afternoon? Max already asked for it the moment he got here this morning," Molly called as she entered the office.

Of course, it was not nearly ready but she waved dismissively, "Yeah, sure! All done and ready."

She hurried to her desk, set down her tea and quickly got out her laptop. Switching it on, she froze as she absent-mindedly looked at the cup and read what was written on it in rushed handwriting.

'You are beautiful!'

Her heart skipped a beat as she stared at the simple sentence and gaped, reading it over and over again. She realised that she had not even looked at the guy behind the counter. Being too absorbed with Four's heartbreaking message, she just wanted to leave as quick as possible. Plus, she was in a hurry and usually there were girls behind the counter or boys who were not her type and too young anyway. They usually hired all kinds of teenagers who needed a bit of extra cash.

But now that she thought back to the encounter, as blurry as it was, she remembered a husky voice calling out her order. In that moment she was too concentrated on not full out balling her eyes out and getting out of there, that she had not even looked at the man handing her the cup of tea.

She sighed in exasperation, squeezing her eyes shut in a desperate attempt to remember what he looked like. But there was nothing and her laptop beeping at her in unison with her work phone, telling her that yet another e-mail was received, she opened her eyes.

Almost jumping out of her seat, she saw Christina kneeling next to her staring at the cup.

"Wow, 'You are beautiful!' You got a secret admirer?" she chuckled as she saw Tris blush furiously. She nudged her for good measure as Tris shrugged and grinned wryly.

"I don't know, Chris. And I need to get cracking. This god-damn presentation is in less than an hour," she raked her hand through her hair, "And there were a few more e-mails I received only during my way to the office. And I-"

Christina put her hand on her friend's shoulder and held her voice purposefully calm, "Don't worry about them, Tris. I got you, I'll take care of these."

Sighing in relief, she thanked her but frowned when Christina's face turned serious. "Did Four reply? You know, it's been-"

"He just texted me," Tris interrupted her, "Just when I was down at the coffee shop." She smiled sadly, "I think, he may have broken up with me."

Raising her eyebrows, Christina pursed her lips in disdain, "I'm sorry, dear. What a douche to do that on Valentine's Day!" Her face lit up as an idea hit her and she smiled radiantly at Tris, "Let's get some coffee after that presentation of yours and then we'll check out that secret admirer of yours!"

Tris laughed weakly and rolled her eyes, "I don't even know what he looked like. He probably only wrote that because of Valentine's Day. Chances are that it's a hormone driven eighteen year old..." she trailed off and looked at her friend who started chuckling under her breath. She raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, "What?"

Christina tried to regain her composure and set a straight face. She stood up and cooed sweetly, "Just prepare that presentation of yours and let's head down for a coffee later. Alright?"

Tris nodded and turned to her laptop, glancing back at her friend who started skipping away from her giddily.

* * *

"...and thus we strive to be the best affiliate for all corporate businesses in all of Chicago," Tris finished her presentation and sighed in relief as her team members as well as all of the major managers cheered and clapped their hands.

She managed to answer all questions at the end with grace and mentally celebrated that she had outdone herself after weeks of preparation. It took her years to get to the position she was in now but it was all worth it. Christina gave her a fierce hug when most of the participants had left the room and congratulated her for her successful presentation.

Christina laughed, rolling her eyes in good fun, "You were great! But I almost fell asleep halfway through, so let's get your stuff back to your office and then get a coffee. What do you say?"

Tris nodded eagerly, adrenaline was still pumping through her but she also felt exhausted, so a coffee would be perfect, she decided.

She returned her laptop to her desk and put on her coat. Reaching into her pocket, she sighed looking at her friend whose eyebrow shot up at her as her shoulders slumped slightly.

"I forgot my purse," she whined and took out her hand with the change in it, "This is all I have left. It's not enough," she sighed and looked at her friend, "But I'll accompany you."

Christina waved her hand, "Don't worry, I'll cover that," she grinned mischievously and winked at her, "Don't you think you'll get out of seeing mister secret admirer!"

Rolling her eyes, she chuckled and they went downstairs to the adjacent coffee shop.

Taking out her phone on their way, Tris showed Christina Four's message. Handing the phone back to Tris, Christina huffed, "I better hope you'll like your secret admirer."

Tris eyes widened and she gaped at Christina, "Have you seen him yet?"

Christina looked at her friend and laughed dismissively, "Of course! I already thought Four would leave you at the first chance." Tris gasped and nudged her, so she added quickly, "I'm only looking out for you, or rather looking out for new prey for you. And I think," she tapped her chin in a conspiratorial manner, "That guy might just be your type!"

Frowning at her, she went through the open door to the coffee shop which Christina held open for her and asked suspiciously, "You think?"

Following her into the heated shop, she put a hand on her shoulder, "I am very sure. And besides, Will told me, that he is a nice guy under a rough shell." She winked at Tris, "If I wasn't with Will, I'd go for him, too."

Since it was almost noon, the shop was much more crowded compared to in the morning and the queue was long. Tris and Christina lined up, and immediately her eyes travelled to where the baristas stood behind the counter. Christina's boyfriend Will had been working here for a couple of years already and she remembered that he had complained about the rotating staff they exchanged every couple of months.

Her view was blocked by all of the people in front of her and she saw behind Will another guy standing there making coffee. Christina grinned at her and pointed a finger towards them, since she apparently had recognised her "secret admirer" already.

But Tris was unable to make out what he looked like. She only saw two heavily tattooed arms working on the machines or alternating between pouring coffee and milk into the cups expertly. The queue moved rather quickly and soon Tris was able to see more of the guy next to Will.

Besides the tattoos on his forearms, he also had rectangular tattoos boldly moving up from below the collar of his shirt right up to his jaw. When he quickly looked over to them while he reached for the bottle of caramel, their eyes met and his face lit up before he went back to work. He and Will exchanged a few words here and there and they laughed. She decided that he had an admirable smile and could not help but smile to herself. Will looked over to see Christina who wiggled her fingers at him and he smiled radiantly.

While Christina ordered her coffee and chatted with the girl behind the counter, Tris had the chance to look at her "secret admirer" a bit more closely. His grey eyes were mostly focused on the work in front of him, his dark blonde hair was short at the sides and long at the top. When he turned around to grab an ingredient from the shelve, she saw that he had microdermals just above his right eyebrow.

He was also muscular, his biceps tightly fitting into the black shirt he wore. He was the complete opposite of Four and for some reason it made him even more attractive because of that. She was so focused on watching him and her eyes had clung to his lips as he pursed them in concentration over pouring the different ingredients together, that she startled as Christina nudged her, telling Tris that she was next in line.

Christina laughed and Tris looked at a different cashier than this morning. She ordered a cappuccino and Christina paid for her. There were so many people in front of them that Will and the other guy could not quite keep up with the orders. But they worked quickly and Tris was glad that they had to wait, this way she was able to secretly admire her secret admirer for a few more moments.

While Christina chatted with Will, Tris kept shyly watching him and noticed that there were no messages on the cups he handed out to the customers. She wondered whether it was the guy from this morning anyway.

When it was their turn, Will made Christina's coffee just the way she liked it and she noticed that the other guy reached under the counter to pull out a cup. She strained to see what was written on it, and blushed as she realised that he was in fact the one who had written the message on her cup this morning. But she could not quite make out what he had written on it.

Her eyes were glued to his hands working on making her cappuccino and when she looked up at his face, she noticed him looking at her once in awhile. He made quick work of the beverage and when he called out her offer in his deep voice, she blushed. Placing the cup on the counter purposefully so that she could right away read his message, he smiled hopefully at her.

Tris looked at the cup and in the same handwriting which had told her this morning that she was beautiful, he had simply written "Be my Valentine's lunch at 12?"

She looked up to see him lean on the counter towards her, his hand still holding onto the cup as he waited for her response, his grey eyes piercing hers intensely. Taking the cup, she tried to suppress the grin threatening to fully break out on her face as her hand brushed over his. Timidly she looked down at the cup for a moment before she looked up at him and nodded.

"Sure," she breathed and was happy to see his face light up in delight.

Biting her bottom lip, she watched him grab a towel to dry his hands. Jutting out his chin in a way of triumph, he could not hide the matching grin on his lips. He leaned towards her again and murmured, "I'll be waiting for you here then." It was almost as if they were alone in the crowded coffee shop. "I'm looking forward to seeing you..." he trailed off, looking at her in expectation.

"Tris," she said quickly when she realised that he was asking for her name.

"Eric," he said and offered her a hand. When she took it and he kissed the back of her hand, she blushed and giggled.

Valentine's Day may have started awfully but it seemed to have the potential to become the best day in a long while.

* * *

Happy Valentine's Day! Thanks beautifulramblingbrains for beta-reading!


End file.
